Grow a Show musical theatre workshop returns to the Lied on Sept. 9-10
calendar icon13 Aug 2024
Lincoln, Neb.--Following the success of Grow a Show Musical Theatre Workshops in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, the Lied Center for Performing Arts has again been selected to host performances of two original musicals with potential Broadway trajectory, being presented in a staged reading format for a panel of industry experts.
This year’s panel of experts include Tony, Emmy and Grammy Award-winning and nominated artists connected to some of the most popular stage and screen works in recent years. Writer Robert L. Freedman (Broadway’s “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” and ABC TV’s “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows,” Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” starring Brandy and Whitney Houston); Music director/producer Jason Michael Webb (Broadway’s “MJ the Musical” and “The Color Purple” and film “Respect” and music supervisor for “The Greatest Showman”); and producer Kevin Bannerman (animated films “Anastasia,” “Ice Age,” “The Lion King,” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”) will offer feedback and advice to the musicals’ creators, guiding them as they take their next steps toward full professional production.
The Lincoln community is invited to attend these musical readings for free on Sept. 9-10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center. Free tickets can be reserved in advance at https://liedcenter.org/growashow.
On each of the two evenings of the workshop, audiences can expect to experience a reading of the first act of the selected show featuring local talent, followed by feedback and questions from the panel. Total time for each engagement is expected to be 90 minutes to two hours.
The two productions being presented are:
• “Tales From the Comic Book Crackdown,” with book by Ben Dickow and music by Ray Hedgpeth. Directed by Hank Stratton. Public performance on Monday, Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. on the Lied Mainstage.
“Tales From the Comic Book Crackdown” is centered around the dramatic 1954 Senate hearings on comic books and juvenile delinquency, which were designed to bring down the comic book industry altogether. Bill Gaines, publisher of E.C. Comics, the most successful comic book publisher of that time with titles such as “Tales from the Crypt,” “The Vault of Horror,” and “Weird Science” was the only publisher who agreed to testify on behalf of comics. It nearly spelled the end of him and his company. And yet somehow, Gaines managed to pull off the greatest twist ending in the history of comic books.
• “The God Machine,” a musical by Matthew McCollum. Directed by Ann Marie Pollard. Public performance on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m. on the Lied Mainstage. Originally developed by McCollum and A.J. Bermudez.
“The God Machine” tells the (mostly) true story of an abolitionist preacher named John Murray Spear, who abandoned his church for Spiritualism and created one of the most bizarre scandals of the 19th century: a "mechanical messiah" that would, if successful, usher in a new era of peace and prosperity on earth. We follow the conception, construction, and ultimate destruction of this machine through the eyes of a follower whose name was deliberately removed from the record, and whose identity remains a mystery: the machine's Mother Mary. Set to a soundtrack that pulls from folk, old gospel hymns, and progressive rock, “The God Machine” is a liturgical meditation on faith, progress, and our desperate search for a savior.